


Getting It Right

by lilly_the_kid



Category: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Drug Use, Gen, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Time Loop, animal death - but not really, character death - but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28243083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilly_the_kid/pseuds/lilly_the_kid
Summary: The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun.
Relationships: Cliff Booth/Rick Dalton
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Getting It Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Myrtle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrtle/gifts).



> Dear Myrtle,
> 
> I saw your time loop prompt and loved the idea. I hope you'll enjoy.
> 
> Happy Yuletide!

Brandy listened up, she looked alarmed. And that made Cliff try to focus. Not easy given the drugs that were really doing their magic right now, but he managed. He'd been in enough life or death situations and there usually was no warning or time for preperation. You had to react. You had to focus or you were dead. 

The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun. 

Cliff tried looking nonchalant and relaxed. Don't show your enemies your cards. He was confused, though. Was this even real? There was also something familiar about them, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Another sound pulled him out of his thoughts. The backdoor slammed open and another person walked in.

Cliff looked back and forth between them. They seemed as confused as he was. 

Use that! It was pure instinct listening to that inner voice. Without a word he threw the can of dog food in the third intruder's face. He heard the reaction of the others, but it was muffled, like it was happening somewhere else.

"Shit!"

"Oh my god, what do we do?"

"You go in the back. The other guy must be there. We have to finish this."

Cliff sicced Brandy on the guy at the door and went to tackle the woman running towards the bedroom. But then he heard a sound behind him. He looked and the third intruder, a woman with a real bloody face was on the floor behind him, blindly stabbing at him with a knife.

He stomped on her hand, hearing bones break. He bent down and picked up the knife. When he got up again he had to steady himself. Damn, that acid. He went to the bedroom. Francesca was in there.

He heard a scream and picked up the pace. When he came through the door he saw the other woman stabbing Francesca over and over. Cliff raised his knife, ready to kill her, but then-

\-----------

Brandy listened up, she looked alarmed. And that made Cliff try to focus. Not easy given the drugs that were really doing their magic right now, but he managed. He'd been in enough life or death situations and there usually was no warning or time for preperation. You had to react. You had to focus or you were dead. 

The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun. 

What the hell? Cliff looked at his hand. There was no knife. He was holding a can of dog food again. It must be the drugs, he thought. Nothing had happened yet, he was just tripping. Maybe this wasn't happening either? He blinked, trying to focus.

He was about to say something when he heard the backdoor open. Shit, just like last time, he thought. If that really happened. Who the fuck were these people? Doesn't matter.

He sicced Brandy on the guy with the gun and threw the can of dog food in the face of the woman by the backdoor again. Then he tackled the other woman before she could make her way to the bedroom. He kept punching her face until she wasn't moving anymore. 

The guy wasn't screaming anymore. Cliff made Brandy stop. Okay, this is better, he thought. He shook his head, trying to focus. It was as if the whole world was tilted slightly.

Then he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. The other woman had managed to get on her feet and she was holding a gun. They guy must have dropped it. Shit. She was stumbling forward and crashed through the window, trying to get away. 

Cliff got up and followed her, not really sure what he was going to do. Just knowing that he had to stop her. But it was hard to think, his vision was still blurry from the drugs. He stepped out on the patio and his heart almost stopped when he saw Rick in the pool. He was sitting in his floating pool chair. He had his headphones on and his eyes were closed. 

The woman saw him too and she started firing at him, hitting Rick right in the head. Rick was thrown back by the force of the shot and slowly sank under the water. Red swirls began to form and then Rick's body broke through the surface.

Cliff screamed or maybe it was more of a growl. This couldn't be happening. He felt panic in a way he hadn't known he could. 

He moved to tackle the woman, he was going to beat her to death with his bare hands, but then-

\----------

Brandy listened up, she looked alarmed. And that made Cliff try to focus. Not easy given the drugs that were really doing their magic right now, but he managed. He'd been in enough life or death situations and there usually was no warning or time for preperation. You had to react. You had to focus or you were dead. 

The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun. 

"Shit! This again?" 

The guy and the red haired woman looked at each other and back at him. There was confusion on their faces.

Cliff turned around.

"Three, two, one."

The back door opened and the dark haired woman walked in. 

"You guys are starting to get on my nerves." Cliff sounded weird to his own ears. He was actually making jokes and small talk while he was still seeing Rick's lifeless body floating in the pool in his head. He felt sick.

"What are you on about?" The guy sounded annoyed.

"What are you on about? I'm not the one bursting into other people's houses, you sick fuck."

The guy raised his gun.

"I'm the devil. And I'm here to do the devil's business."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

The guy cocked the gun and Cliff sicced Brandy on him. Then he threw the can of dog food in the face of the red haired woman who dropped her knife. Cliff bent down to pick it up, planning to attack the dark haired woman when he heard a shot.

He spun around and dropped the knife. The dark haired woman had gotten ahold of the gun and had shot Brandy. She looked at him, pure terror on her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. 

Cliff stormed forward. He wasn't sure what he was going to do to her, but it wouldn't be pleasant. And then-

\-----------

Brandy listened up, she looked alarmed. And that made Cliff try to focus. Not easy given the drugs that were really doing their magic right now, but he managed. He'd been in enough life or death situations and there usually was no warning or time for preperation. You had to react. You had to focus or you were dead. 

The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun. 

Cliff jumped forward and grabbed the gun out of the guy's hand. He jumped back and pointed the gun at both of them.

"Get the hell out of here!" 

The backdoor opened and he pointed the gun at the woman entering. 

"You too! Out! Before I blow all your brains out." 

There was confusion and panic on the intruders' faces. It seemed as though they didn't really know what they were doing. They had a mission, but didn't really believe in it or fully understood it. This could be the way to end this, Cliff thought. Make them believe that abandoning the mission is a much better way to go. But don't give them room to actually think.

The guy took one step forward and Cliff fired a bullet right in front of his feet.

"Get the fuck out of here! I won't tell you again."

That did it. All three of them left.

Cliff stood there for a moment, taking a deep breath. Could this be it? Was this right? Or whatever things were meant to be? And did he know those people or was he just high and imagining that?

He heard curses in Italian and turned around. Francesca walked toward him.

"What happened? What was that noise?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep." 

She looked at him with narrowed eyes, clearly not satisfied with his answer. But she seemed to see that the was actually shaken up. Her face softened and she nodded. Then she walked back to the bedroom.

Cliff went outside and walked to the pool. Rick was sitting in his pool chair, headphones on and seemed to be having a good time. Cliff looked at him, feeling relief. Seeing Rick die, even if it hadn't been real, because it couldn't have been real, right? Anyway, that had been the worst thing he'd ever seen. And he'd seen some fucked up shit in his time.

Brandy came outside and sat down next to Cliff.

Suddenly there was screaming. Loud and piercing. Cliff looked up. It came from the house next door. Where that fancy director lived, Cliff remembered. What the hell. He walked towards the screaming- 

\-----------

Brandy listened up, she looked alarmed. And that made Cliff try to focus. Not easy given the drugs that were really doing their magic right now, but he managed. He'd been in enough life or death situations and there usually was no warning or time for preperation. You had to react. You had to focus or you were dead. 

The door burst open and two people walked in, one holding a gun. 

Shit, Cliff thought. That hadn't worked, either. He tried to concentrate. This situation was hard enough and the drugs didn't make it any easier. Apparantly, those guys weren't supposed to kill anybody. Things snapped back to the beginning as soon as someone other than them died. Oh my god, he thought. Am I actually thinking this shit?

Okay, okay. Whatever. Now. Focus. Stay calm. Try and get them to talk first. 

"Can I help you?" He tried to smile.

The backdoor opened and the dark haired woman entered.

"Shit," Cliff muttered.

The guy pointed his gun at Cliff's head.

"How many other people are here?"

Try to get them to relax. Pretend you're cooperating.

"Oh, just the one sleeping in the back there." Cliff felt shitty for telling them about Francesca, but he figured they already knew he wasn't alone. He would never say a word about Rick, though.

The guy nodded at the woman next to him.

"Go get him. Bring him in the living room."

"What if he says no?"

Yeah, amateurs, Cliff thought.

"You don't take no for an answer. You're the one with the knife. Get him in here."

Cliff looked at the dark haired woman.

"Hey." He nodded. No reaction. God, this felt so weird. Could this really be happening?

"You are real right?" Cliff looked at the guy. No harm in asking, he thought.

"I'm as real as a donut, motherfucker."

What the fuck? Is that guy on something too? Assuming this is in fact real. Cliff couldn't suppress a laugh. Maybe I'm going insane now on top of everything else, he thought.

They were interrrupted by the other woman bringing Francesca into the room.

"Who the fuck is that?"

"I don't know."

"Francesca," Cliff said. 

There it was again, the feeling that he knew these people. And then it clicked.

"Wow," Cliff said and looked at each of them. "Oh, I know you." The movie ranch, right.

"Yeah," he continued. "I know all three of you. Yeah, Spahn Ranch. Spahn Ranch, yeah." He looked at the red haired woman. 

"I don't know your name, but I remember that hair." He turned to the dark haired woman. "And you, I remember your white little face."

He looked at the guy. 

"And you were on a horsie!" He thought for a moment. "Ugh, you are...?"

"I'm the devil. And I'm here to do the devil's business."

Again with this bullshit, he thought.

"Nah, it was dumber than that. Something like Rex."

"God, shoot him, Tex!"

"Tex!"

Tex cocked the gun and Cliff sicced Brandy on him. Shit, he thought. This again. The dark haired woman charged at him and he threw the can of dog food in her face. 

There was screaming and chaos. The red haired woman and Francesca were just staring. Cliff saw the dark haired woman crawl towards him and he sicced Brandy on her. Then he took care of the guy.

He only half noticed that Francesca seemed to break out of her shock and punched the other woman in the face. Then she ran and hid in the bedroom.

Cliff kicked the guy's face in. His head was swimming, it was hard to focus. 

Suddenly the red haired woman tackled him and he ended up on the ground. He got up and something felt wrong. He looked down. There was a knife in his hip. Shit, he thought. Not again, I don't wanna do this bullshit all over again. Something in him snapped and he grabbed the woman and beat her to a bloody pulp. He wasn't really sure what was happening anymore. He looked at her deformed face and let go.

He got up. The other woman was still screaming. Suddenly there were gun shots. And suddenly he was on the ground again. Things were turning dark. Shit, here we go again, he thought.

\-----------

The door burst open. Cliff was drifting in and out of consciousness. He tried to focus, but he couldn't really open his eyes. Or move. Or do anything.

"Francesca? Francesca?" That was Rick's voice. Thank god, he's alive, Cliff thought. As it turned out the one thing he could do was feeling relief. There was a pause. 

"Oh, shit. Cliff?" Barely a whisper. Cliff heard steps approaching. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Cliff, buddy? Are you ok? Oh shit." The hand moved to his neck, apparantly finding what it was looking for. "Oh, thank god. You hang in there, buddy. I'll get you an ambulance." A pause, the sound of frantic steps. Rick's voice again. "What the fuck happened to the phone?"

Cliff smiled. Guess I got it right this time, he thought. He allowed himself to drift off again. 

\------------


End file.
